Notes: I'd like to give an exceedingly grateful thanks to everyone who has left me comments and support. It's incredibly heartening to know other people enjoy my story. I'll admit this chapter was difficult to write as I wanted to do everyone justice in their dialogue. I feel like this chapter has taught me a few things so HOPEFULLY more dialogue heavy chapters won't be as difficult for me later down the road.

Alternative Title: The sleepover episode

For some women sharing a trailer with four guys is their worst nightmare. For others still it's their wildest dream. For me it was a middling experience at best. The air smelled slightly like bodyspray and I had to keep insisting I'd sleep on the floor despite them insisting otherwise. Eventually I did win the argument but the battle of attrition was long fought.

"Do you fold?"

"I have no fucking clue."

I was also beginning to learn that the crown prince was secretly an old man. A young old man. He was sitting across from me with his blue eyes peeking out from over the red backs of his cards. Between this, fishing, and his propensity for napping the kid was twenty going on sixty five. I was so busy ruminating over his fustiness that I'd forgotten I just cursed in front of royalty. "Excuse me." Yeah that'd mend it.

"You can say fuck." Snorted Noctis, his cheek was on his knuckles now. Next to us Prompto gasped loudly.

"Are you sure that's not like. . . fifty years in the dungeons or something?" I asked as I set down a row of four cards. Four fours. "At least a hundred dollar fine? Also I got no clue what this means." I added as I slapped the backs of my fingers against my card spread.

"It means you lost!" Proclaimed Prompto as he slapped down his own cards. Four Jacks. I felt like I knew enough about cards to know that was bad for me. Sighing Noct set down his own cards. A line of even numbers. Making grabby hands Prompto looked from me to Noct. "Alright! Hand 'em over."

Begrudgingly both Noct and myself slid over five gil. Sure it was a low stakes game but that's enough for like, six bags of chips.

"Hey." Said Noct as he began to gather cards.

"Hey." I replied, expecting this to be some sort of preamble.

"So what's the deal with you and the Chancellor?" Ah, there it was, the million gil question.

"Yeah! It's like you're immune to his heebie jeeby field." Prompto chimed in. I made a bit of a face at that. Immune wasn't the right word for it. More like I'd been overexposed so in a constant state of paranoia was just my default setting now.

"Not really but I guess I've got a good poker face." I shrugged. "Anyway he's. . . I'm hitching a ride with him."

"To where?" Asked Noctis. I wished he wasn't so interested. I think it may have been concern. I did just seem like a civilian. I was just a civilian.

"Not sure yet. I don't really have anywhere to go. I'd've stopped at Lestallum but it's a bit small compared to what I'm used to."

"Yeah well, if you'd like I'm sure we could find you better company." Noct said as he began shuffling cards.

"Worst comes to worse you can come with us!" Though I didn't think it was true I was admittedly endeared by Prompto's offer.

"With you? Aren't you guys going off to talk to some giant man holding up an asteroid? You sure you gonna live through that?" I tried to sound playfully incredulous. Instead I just sounded plainly incredulous. It was hard not to, if I'm being fair with myself. The thought of seeing Titan even if at a distance made my hands tremble.

"I wasn't thinking about it before you brought it up! Now I sure hope we do!" Something about Prompto's tone matched with his hair made me think of a quarking chocobo. Noctis snickered and shook his head beside him, slipping cards back into their box.

"We'll be fine."

I hoped he was right.

Not everyone took to me so easily. Ignis had been cordial if not distant. Gladio, meanwhile, seemed particularly standoffish. It didn't help that he seemed to take what opportunities he could staring into my very goddamn soul. I didn't fault him for it after finding out he was the King's Shield but it still made shit awkward and unsettling.

I was leaving the trailer to have a smoke when he stopped me in the doorway.

"Hey." He started.

"Hey." I replied, growing increasing uncomfortable with conversations starting this way. Hey! I'm about to say something discomfiting! Golly!

"You good?" The question was asked with a readjustment of his crossed arms and an upwards nod. I had no idea what that meant. Was I, indeed, good? On a moral scale probably not. Not anymore. In terms of my emotional well being I was definitely not good. Physically I could be doing better. Not good, more like okay. A long awkward moment passed between us before I realized I hadn't actually said anything.

Finally he gestured up to his cheek—where my bruise was—and further down to his own collarbone. "He hasn't been giving you any problems, has he?" Funny how your regard for someone can change in a moment. The King wasn't the only one who Gladio was watching over.

"Uh, these?" I let out a faint chuckle. "Yeah, no, it's fine. I got these trying to get out of Insomnia." It was clear by the look on Gladio's face—dubious—that he didn't believe me. It's fine. He didn't have to. That probably worked more to my favor than not. With a curt nod he cleared space for me to step out of the trailer and into the night.

All manner of moths swirled about the overhead light as I walked 'round and settled my back against the trailer. I was bathed in the UV light of the parking lot and out feet in front of me was a black stretch of shadows. The daemons didn't seem to manifest too close but I felt like I could see something walking around the grass. Some wild animal, probably.

I looked down at my hand and for some reason was stricken that it was still indeed mine. Brown skin, nails growing unevenly from scrabbling at the steering wheel, the last vestiges of teal nail polish I still hadn't chipped off. I should've asked my mother for polish remover but the thought skipped my mind. Said hand went rummaging in my pockets for my cigarette. Over the crisp sound of my lighter burning I could hear someone coming out from the trailer.

Prompto's approach was awkwardly endearing. A slow roll of his steps and a hand scratching at the back of his neck. I flashed him a smile which he returned.

"So. . . Ceti. . . You're a girl, right?" He started with all the cadence of someone who had a better question than that.

"Better be." I replied. He snorted a snicker. "What's up?"

"Oh uh, nothin'." And then he paused. There was a light flush to his cheeks. "Well, something, I guess." I didn't say anything. Instead I allowed silence to linger between us. He'd have to find his words. "I uh. . .Well y'know, there's this girl, right?"

"Right." Of course there was this girl.

"So let's say there was someone who liked you. You know, liked you liked you. How would they be able to get your attention?" His blue eyes were fixed squarely to the tips of his boots. Were I a more vain woman I'd have thought he had eyes for me. Gods help me, I couldn't help but feel protective over this poor kid. He was around my sister's age.

"Well. . . I'd say it'd be pretty obvious." I hadn't meant to sound as dry as I did. As if to ease up on the tone I flashed him a reassuring smile. "It's a matter of her being interested in you. She like anything?"

"Oh yeah! She's a mechanic." His eyes got a bit brighter. Somehow I don't think this was the information Ardyn was looking for. Or maybe it was. There was a lot to be gleaned from him when he spoke. Little bits and pieces in his mannerisms to pick apart and speculate on. It's not something I liked to think about but when you work with people on a day to day basis you get better at knowing what makes them tick.

The conversation carried on a little like pulling teeth. Eventually I wound up telling him he should take pictures of any interesting cars he'd seen to show this girl—Cindy—when he saw her again.

"Here, I tell you what." I said, grinding what was left of my cigarette into the pavement. "I'll brave Ardyn with you tomorrow so you can get a shot of his car."

"Yeah, cool!" When Prompto smiled he smiled with his whole face. "Thanks, Ceti."

He went back to the trailer and I followed in behind. Not without one last look into the dark, however. I didn't know where Ardyn was. He wasn't in his car. Not when I looked. With my breath held in my lungs I half anticipated to spot a man in a long dark coat standing out in the fields, a pack of daemons at his heels. Instead all I saw was the dark. A hematite sky littered with stars like milk splattered against leather.

Sleep eventually found me. I don't know when, just that it occured on the floor I had argued by place for and amidst Prompto's light snoring. For the past couple of days my sleep had been deep and dreamless. That night, however, was different.

The man sitting next to me in the dream kept addressing me as "Leparum" but I didn't feel like myself. My hands weren't my hands and my legs weren't my legs. And yet they were me, but a size or two too big as if I'd have to one day grow into them. My companion was outfitted fully in Niflhiem armor. I couldn't make heads or tails of his face behind his mask but judging from his tone he was smiling at me.

In front of us was a cerulean sky wrought rich with fluffy white clouds. We were flying some manner of airship. I knew just what buttons to press though I couldn't tell you why I was pressing them. Something about air pressure or the position of jets.

I knew that when we got back to base I was due for some sort of promotion. It was a good job, a cushy job. At least that's what everyone had been telling me. Personally I thought it had dangers of its own. Working with the higher ups always did. It's all fancy trips and fine brewed espresso till you up and have to take a bullet for someone. I'd never heard about any attempts on the Chancellor's life but. . . Well, I suppose that's not something you hear about until one is successful.

I awoke to the sound of a dull vibration and the rustling of fabric. I lay there for a moment trying to get my bearings. I was still Leparum—Ceti Leparum—but I certainly wasn't wearing any armor and I definitely wasn't flying an airship. There were a pair of legs in dark jeans walking around the trailer quietly and three more boys still fast asleep. Peering up into the dim light of the trailer I could see Ignis getting himself together.

I figured this would be as good a time as any to get in a bit of conversation as him. Neither of us spoke as we milled about getting ready. A nonverbal agreement in a knowing glance not to wake the others. He exited the trailer first and I followed out after. Slowly, slowly, I closed the door behind me until I heard a click and then bounded down the few stairs after Ignis.

Speaking to Ignis, I found, was remarkably similar to trying to hold ice. Cold on his behalf and sloppy on mine.

"So, you're an early riser."

"I am indeed." His reply felt clipped. I was looking at him. He was looking ahead. Already I could tell this conversation was going nowhere.

"To. . . make breakfast, I presume? Noctis mentioned you do most of the cooking. I could help, if you like." I was trying to be friendly. The both of us were encroaching on the gas station store up ahead. That's when Ignis stopped. He looked at me and his green eyes felt startlingly piercing. No one had looked at me quite the way he had in a very long time. It wasn't a good look.

"If it's all the same to you, Ceti, I think we'd make for better strangers." His words were particularly cutting and if I wasn't floored in that moment I'd have been impressed. I was stopped dead in my tracks, arrested by his words. Ignis's footsteps crunched overtop asphalt as he walked further and further away from me till I watched him disappear into the gas station convenience store.

"Three out of four isn't bad, Ceti." Came a voice behind me. I nearly skittered out of my skin when I turned to find Ardyn behind me. He didn't seem nearly as bothered as I was, and believe you me, I was bothered. I don't often get snubbed and I'm shit at taking rejection. I felt something like terrible anxiety mixed with a blood boiling resentment. It wasn't my fault I was in this fucking situation. Then again, it wasn't fault he was in his situation, either. Ultimately I couldn't stay mad for that long.

"Yeah well, don't think I really got anything substantial." I replied with a roll of my shoulder. The soreness of sleeping on a floor was slowly starting to fall over me. My shoulder felt particularly tender.

"Whatever you did get is of worth to me." Ardyn seemed assured of it. He reached out to pat at the self same shoulder that was aching and I flinched more than I'd have liked. He flinched, too, but it was nearly imperceptible. He kept doing that, initiating contact and then recoiling, as if I wouldn't take note, as if he were sticking his hand into glass.

"So. . . What now?" I asked, shifting my weight to one leg. He was standing with his back to the sun. It made him look like a shadow of a man against the dawn of the countryside.

"I do believe you're going to smoke one more cigarette—" Because gods know he wasn't going to let me smoke in the car, " —And then we're going to go have a visit with the Archaean."